Story of Three
by KowawaKoala
Summary: A boy from an alternate dimension awakens in the Maple World. However, times are not peaceful: the Black Mage has risen once again. As chaos ensues, the Maple World is plunged into a veil of darkness. Is this boy the resistance's last hope?
1. The Past

**Hello everyone again ! :D**

**So after a while on hiatus (I blame the new jobs on Maple ._.) on all my stories, I've finally written a new one! **

**I really hope my skills, if any, didn't deteriorate while I was gone D:**

**A/N: Before you read, just note that Keima isn't a dual blade, and that the main character has not been introduced yet. Thanks :)**

**Well here goes~ **

**Enjoy!**

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><p>A dark-haired boy groaned as he shifted his weight slightly. He was sitting in between his two friends during a taxi ride to Lith Harbor and was starting to become uncomfortable due to the cramped space in the cab.<p>

"Are we there yet?" he complained to his two friends while letting out a long sigh.

When he got no response, he looked to his left at one of his friends. She was fast asleep and slightly cuddling onto her backpack with a faint smile upon her face. Her pink hair fluttered softly as the ocean breeze blew in from a small opening in the car window. A wooden wand poked out from her backpack's pocket indicating that she was a magician.

"Ugh, Kristen's asleep," the boy muttered as he mentally facepalmed.

Sighing, he then looked to his right at his other friend. His friend was awake, but was staring out the window as the fields and trees whizzed by, completely oblivious to anything else. He had long brown hair that covered his forehead and had a faint scar that ran down from his eyebrow to his cheek. However, the most peculiar thing about him was his eyes. His eyes were bright yellow like a cat's and they seemed to glow whenever his gaze was fixed upon something. Twin daggers lay besides him indicating that he was a thief.

"So how much longer is this ride Keima?" the boy asked again, tapping his friend's shoulder this time.

"Five hundred…," Keima replied in an absent-minded tone as he continued to stare outside. "I've counted five hundred trees…"

The boy facepalmed again.

"This is hopeless."

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><p>It was hours later before they arrived at Lith Harbor. The sun was beginning to set; giving the sky a crimson glow as it descended down the horizon.<p>

"Hey Kristen. Hey Alex. We're finally here!" exclaimed Keima, who had finally snapped out of his trance.

He looked sideways at his two friends. Kristen was still sleeping and had managed to flip upside down in her seat somehow, while Alex had an blank expression on his face as he stared at the roof of the car with his mouth agape. It seemed as though he had died of boredom.

_'I wonder what happened to them...'_ Keima thought as he sweat-dropped.

He nudged Alex slightly as to snap him from his daze while he repeatedly poked Kristen's cheek over and over until she woke up. When Alex finally came to, he leapt from the cab and ran in circles around the area.

"I'M FREE! I'M FREE!" he yelled as he ran until he was tired and returned to where Keima was.

Kristen, on the other hand, did not make any overly dramatic motions, but instead just rubbed her eyes and got out of the cab. However, she still looked like she needed more sleep as let out a large yawn.

"Mmmm... I need more sleep... mana's still low..." she mumbled.

When the three finally got ready, they made their way towards a nearby shop vender to have dinner.

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><p>"Phewwww, I'm so stuffed!" Alex exclaimed as the group walked down the boulevard.<p>

The night was peaceful as to cool breeze blew gently. The group was completely alone now; everyone else in the town had gone to sleep inside their homes. There were one or two streetlights on, but the moon illuminated the streets.

"So.. where are we going now?" Kristen asked as she glanced at the other two.

"You'll see Kristen," Keima replied walking slightly ahead of the group. "We're almost there."

The group cut across an alley as Keima was leading them and soon they found themselves at the edge of a dock.

"Wow, it's so beautiful," Kristen exclaimed, letting out a breath of amazement.

The water was gleaming; hundreds of bubblefish swam near dock around them as the moonlight reflected off their luminescent skin.

The group sat on the edge of the platform as they let their feet dangle a few feet from the water. They sat there in silence for a while; looking out into the night sky with silent reverie.

"Hey guys, look at those stars," Alex said, breaking the silence as he pointed skyward.

There were three stars gathered close to one another; each shining as brightly as the next. The other two looked up as Alex continued to point at the stars up above; the three once again sitting in a peaceful silence. It was a while before Alex finally put his hand down.

"We'll always be together, won't we?" Alex asked quietly, staring out at the ocean as waves crashed gently around them.

"Yeah.." Keima said as he continued to stare up at the stars. "We'll always be together, just like those stars."

He looked at the other two beside him. "No matter how far apart we are, we'll always look out for each other."

The other two nodded quietly.

"Well that settles it, doesn't it," Alex said as he stuck his hand out in front of him. "We're in this together."

"Yeah," Keima and Kristen said in unison as they also put their hands forward to touch Alex's. The three looked and smiled at each other as they sat there in the cool night breeze. Up above, the stars twinkled and seemed to glow more brightly.

"We'll be friends forever..."

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><p><strong>And that wraps up chapter 1 ! :D<strong>

**Thanks for reading!**

**And as always, reviews, good or bad, are always graciously accepted :) -holds out the review box-**

**Thankars! ^-^**


	2. The Beginning of Everything

**So finally after a 5 month long hiatus (I think), I have finally decided to write again. I've done some researching and had decided to wait on the story until some new jobs came out in MapleStory like Phantom and Jett (Kaiser and Angelic Buster next year). Yet, I didn't completely waste my time during hiatus. I managed to improve my grades by a letter grade (A's now) and I finally managed to get lvl 200 on my Mercedes (my parents think otherwise on this) in Kradia after 4 long years of playing maple!**

**So whether my writing has improved or deteriorated, that is up to the readers :)**

**Here goes~**

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><p><em>Chapter 1: The Beginning of Everything<em>

_During class time...  
><em>

"Yawnnnnnnnnnn..."

A boy lazily lifted his head from his desk, still dazed from his "small" nap. His glasses were crooked on his face from putting his head down and patches of the boy's jet black hair were white from bits of chalk dust. Said chalk piece lay next to the boy on the ground; some of it crumbled into several pieces from the impact.

"Jet Miyamoto, you are in big trouble!"

The teacher was fuming; she had her hands against her waist and a murderous look in her eyes. Yet all the boy did was stare right back with absolutely no care in his eyes. After, this happened almost everyday.

"I'm sorry Ms. Huntington..," Jet replied in a monotone voice.

"You're sorry that you got caught," Ms. Huntington shot back. "See me after class."

With a sigh, the boy sat back down with his head propped up against his hand. Whatever he read in his textbook, he remembered; he didn't need to pay attention in class. He proceeded to stare out the window at the maple tree behind the school yard. Behind the school was a vast forest with a chain-link fence separating it from the school yard. A small movement from the maple tree caught his attention and he squinted his eyes to take a closer look. A pink-haired girl was staring back at him with curious eyes, but she was gone as soon as he blinked. He rubbed his eyes and looked back again, but all he saw was the maple tree. His eyes were playing tricks on him.

_'Okay, I need to stop sleeping in class...'_ he thought grudgingly.

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><p><em>Sometime after class...<br>_

A few moments after his talk with his teacher, Jet left school. His backpack hung from one shoulder as he walked toward his locker to get his books. Another boy, about the same height as Jet, waited by Jet's locker. He had brown hair and his eyes were light blue. His face lit up as soon as he saw Jet and he beckoned Jet to go to him.

"Hey, guess what?" the boy asked excitedly, his eyes full of anticipation.

"What?" Jet replied. "You got asked out?"

"No, I wish...," the boy laughed. "But I heard something new today!"

Ryan Aviles loved to know rumors. He was known as "the one that always knew what was happening in the school." Like if so and so hooked up or if a teacher got fired, he knew this before it was known across the school. People often looked for him for the current gossip.

"So what did you hear this time?" Jet asked somewhat interested.

"Well, there's been some kids saying that they've seen a girl around that old maple tree behind the school yard, and that NOBODY is supposed to even be in there," Ryan said, emphasizing the fact that the place was supposed to be a restricted area.

"So what about it?" Jet asked, now fully interested, remembering what he had seen from the classroom window. "You think it's a ghost?"

"I don't know, but I'm going to check out the place tonight," Ryan replied. "You wanna come along?"

"Sure, but it has to be after 10 PM though," Jet said, his eyes full of excitement.

"Alright, 11 PM sharp in front of my house, don't be late."

"Sure, I'll see you later then."

"See ya!"

With that, the two boys separated and each headed toward his home.

_'Tonight's going to be interesting.'_ Jet thought to himself.

_'I'm going to meet that pink-haired girl...'_

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><p><em>In front of Ryan's house, 11:01 PM...<br>_

"Dude, I told you 11 PM sharp.." Ryan complained in a playful manner.

"What are you, my teacher?" Jet replied sarcastically.

The two boys made their way to the school after horsing around for a bit.

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><p><em>Ardentville High School, midnight...<em>

When they arrived at the school they saw that the gate was locked so they climbed over, making sure not to make too much noise to alert anyone of their presence.

"You know, the school's actually pretty spooky at night," Jet exclaimed as he pushed himself over the gate, landing on the other side.

"Yeah, which makes this twice as exciting," Ryan responded grinning.

They walked to the back of the school to where the school yard was and climbed over the chain linked fence into the "restricted area." Ryan pulled out a flashlight and shined it at the old maple tree. Its leaves were falling and the tree was almost completely bare, with the exception of about four or five leaves. Other trees around the maple tree, on the other hand, were full of leaves. After all, it was summer.

The soft sigh of the wind could be heard from around the maple tree, yet the leaves seemingly remained still. The crickets were chirping and the night seemed peaceful...

Suddenly, there was a sharp squeal and something shot past the two boys and stopped by the gate. Ryan quickly shone his flashlight at it and the two boys gasped in surprise. What they saw was a pig with a red ribbon tied around it. It stamped the ground and looked as though it was going to charge at the boys any second now. Yet upon closer inspection, the boys saw that it had gashes all over it, some of them still dripping with its blood. Its eyes were full of fear.

"What the heck happened to it?" Jet exclaimed, staring at the pig with bewilderment. A sharp growl was heard from behind him.

"I d-don't know man.." Jet could hear Ryan's voice stuttering in a small whimper. "But I d-don't think the pig is the real problem..."

Jet turned around and what he saw almost made him pee his pants. Standing about ten feet away from them was a winged creature. Its blood red eyes shone with malice and its claws were dripping of blood. It was the epitome of the devil himself. It gave another loud growl and charged towards the two boys.

"Holy sh-," Ryan's outcry was cut short when Jet grabbed his arm and started running in the opposite direction.

"I don't know what the hell that thing is, but we need to run!" Jet yelled to Ryan behind him.

A sharp squeal was heard from the pig was heard, but it was cut short by a sickening, splattering sound. The boys ran for their lives farther into the restricted zone, but they could hear the beast close behind them. They ran past a couple of trees and entered a courtyard of some run-down house. Around the courtyard were several statues, some with staffs and one that appeared to be carrying two weapons that appeared half crossbow and half gun.

"Get behind one of those statues!" Jet called to Ryan, who nodded quickly and began to run faster.

The boys ran behind the statue of the person carrying a cane. Jet covertly looked from the side of the statue at the expanse of trees they had just exited from. Seconds later, he saw the beast lumber out from the trees. It raised its head and sniffed the air, as though trying to pick up the boys' scent. With a low growl, it lowered its head and started to walk in the direction of the boys' hiding spot. Jet could feel his heartbeat quicken with every step the beast took. Slowly, the beast came closer and closer; its growl becoming louder and louder.

Suddenly, it stopped.

"What's going on?" Ryan asked in a soft, but fearful whisper. He quietly leaned over to peek too.

"Shhh.." Jet waved him back to his spot. "Something's going on with the beast."

The beast snarled and slashed at the air as though there was some type of force field separating the statues from the rest of the forest. It rammed its horns into this "barrier," but it did no good. With a roar of frustration, it turned around and went back into the forest.

"Phew...," Jet said, letting out a sigh. "I think we're safe for now.."

"Yeah.. for now..," Ryan said with a fearful voice. "How the heck are we going to get out of here with that thing in the forest."

"I don't know.." Jet sat down dejectedly. "All we can do now is wait."

The boys sat in silence behind the statue waiting for help to come. Occasionally, they heard the growl of the beast and sprang to attention; ready to run if the beast were to approach. Yet, the growls would subside and once again the boys could relax. A few hours later, Jet noticed that the growls had stopped for quite some time now. With a sigh of relief, he let his head fall backwards to relax, but instead of hitting stone he hit something sticking out from the statue. He turned his head and saw that he had been leaning on an engraving on the statue the entire time.

_'Hmm... what's this?'_ he thought to himself as he read the engraving.

_Phantom. The Legendary Thief. Master of Shadows. Call upon Phantom and be shrouded in the darkness of the night..._

On the side of the engraving was a note saying _"No treasure is impossible to steal..."_ and a engraving of a heart with the name _"Aria"_ written in cursive inside of it.

Suddenly, an idea sprang into Jet's head. It was kind of stupid, but he was desperate enough to try it out.

"I call upon Phantom!" he shouted into the night, feeling awkward afterwards. "Ok, now I just feel stupid."

Nothing happened for a moment, but then he felt a sudden whooshing sound and his body suddenly felt really light. He looked towards Ryan, but he wasn't there.

"Ryan, where are you?" Jet called, alarmed that his friend had disappeared. A voice suddenly came from his left.

"I'm right here, where are you?" the voice asked. Jet felt a hand grab his arm and he jumped in surprise.

"Whoa!"

"I don't know what the heck a 'Phantom' is, but it worked," the voice continued. Jet felt the hand tug on his arm. "Come on, let's get out of here while we remain invisible." The boys quietly made their way back into the forest, not wanting to alert the beast to their presence. Every time a twig would snap beneath their feet, the boys would frantically look around for any signs of the beast; only continuing to walk if the surroundings were clear. They walked through the forest for several minutes before they reached the gate to the school yard. With a sigh of relief, they began to walk faster wanting to get out as quickly as they could. Suddenly, Jet began to feel dizzy and his body became heavy. He stopped in his tracks and looked at Ryan. To his horror, Ryan was becoming visible again. Jet looked down at his own hands, which were also reappearing, and gasped.

"Ryan, RUN!" Jet shouted at his friend who jumped in surprise and started to run. He also started to sprint towards the gate. As if on a cue, the beast burst from the foliage and began to charge at the boys. Ryan reached the gate and jumped on, scrambling up as fast as he could. However, the leg of his jeans caught onto one of the sharp pieces of metal sticking out of the fence and he became stuck as he tried to jump to the other side.

"HELP!" he called out to Jet, who had just reached the fence and started to climb. He hesitated a bit, but ripped off part of his friend's jeans to free him from the fence as he watched his friend tumble over to safety on the other side. As Jet reached the top himself, he felt something sharp pierce his leg. At first he thought it was that same piece of metal that caught onto his friend, but when the "sharp object" began to tug on him, he realized otherwise; the beast had grabbed him. He called out for help to Ryan, but received no reply from him as his friend had been knocked out from the fall. Hopelessly, Jet clung onto the fence with all his might as the beast tried to pull him off, but he knew he was fighting a losing battle. As the beast tugged at him strongly once more, Jet lost his grip and tumbled back down to the ground below.

Everything seemed surreal as he fell to the ground; as though time slowed down. Jet looked up at the night sky once; at the stars and the moon. He knew that this would be the last time he would see them again.

_'Farewell everyone.. my parents and my friends... I'm sorry I was stupid until the very end..'_

That was the last thing he thought before he hit the ground.

Everything became dark..

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><p><strong>So there we have it! Chapter 1 is done at long last :)<strong>

**Some fun facts about this story include:**

**1) The the main character, Jet Miyamoto, is actually based upon one of my friends I met on MapleStory.**

**2) I actually get more ideas for the story when training at LHC (Lionheart Castle) than any other moment on the game; probably from the lack of attention I have when killing Crocky the Gatekeeper.**

**Well on that cheery note,**

**Thanks for reading! **Reviews are happily accepted as usual :P****

**I'll try to upload Chapter 2 as soon as possible if I don't get distracted by the new job, Mihile.  
><strong>

**Until then~**


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